Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and out-of-Pocket Expenses on Healthcare in Rural Nigeria

Abstract:

The
socio-economic status of individuals, households and community play a key role
in their health status especially for those in rural areas amongst which the
pauper dwells. The fact that out-of-pocket(OOPs)expenses especially amongst the
rural poor leads to more poverty/impoverishment, indebtedness and or death
calls for strategic and highly efficient health financing measures to resolves
issues around OOPs. This study thus, seeks to understand the relationship
between the socio-economic status of rural dwellers in Ejigbo LGA and
out-of-pocket expenses made on their healthcare.

This
cross sectional study was carried out Utilizing an interviewer administered
questionnaire to 1280 respondents who were selected using stratified random
sampling of respondents in structures and households. SPSS version 21 was used
to analyse the data obtained. Level of Educational attainment, income/earnings
per month and occupation were scaled and cumulated to obtain the socio-economic
scale/status

Majority
of respondents belong to the lower socio-economic class, and had up to
secondary level education. More than half of the rural dwellers earn between ₦10,000
($62.5 US). In this study, 64.4% of respondents spent ₦5,000
($31.25 US) or less on their health through out-of-pocket spending (OOPs) in 3
months consequently about ₦1,666.66
($10.41 US) in a month.

A
statistically significant correlation was found between SES of respondents in
rural area and their OOPs on healthcare. An increase in SES revealed an
increase in OOPs. A significant relationship was found between the SES of
respondents and the OOPs on healthcare which was a reflection of educational
status, occupation and income/earnings of community members. This survey also
reveals that the poorer the people, the less they spend on their healthcare
owing to the fact that they have low earnings/income. Hence, there is need for
more efficient risk pooling mechanisms in order to assure equity in healthcare
service delivery.

References:

[1.]Ataguba, John E. (2008) Community
Health Insurance Scheme as a viable option for rural population in Nigeria
Paper submitted to the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE)
Department of Economics, University of Oxford. Health Economics Unit,
University of Cape Town and Department of Economics, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, Feb 2008